Unitary tire cover



. 21, 1935- G. A. LYON 2,001,967

UNITARY TIRE COVER 'FiledJune 931 5 Sheets-Sheet l May 21, 1935. LYON 2,001,967

UNITARY TIRE COVER Filed June 8, 1931 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 wrpe 07597"! Z3022;

May 21, 1935. s. A. LYON 2,001,957

UNITARY TIRE COVER Filed June 8, 1951 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 VEU: ER Gear-ye dZberZ Z1071.

Patented May2 1, 1935 PATE N OFFICE a UNITARY TIRE oovER George Albert Lyon,'Allenhurst, N. J.; assignor to Lyon Incorporated; Asbury Park, N. J., a corporation of Delaware n i Application June 8, 1931, Serial No. 542.791

ioi ims. (o1. 15o 541 My present invention relates to tire covers and more particularly to a tire cover of theunitary p r pp r An object of this invention is to provide an improved simple and inexpensive cover of a unitary person applying the cover thereto.

Another object of the invention is to provide a unitary tire cover 'formed'to be readily mounted upon the tire by the shovingof the cover thereon and adapted to be self-retained on the tire once it is properly positioned thereon.-

I have found from my experimentation with unitary tire covers that considerable difliculty is where the cover is made of relatively stiff sheet material such asmetal sheet and has a circumferential inner margin or flange adapted to be disposed on the rearside of the spare tire and to extend inwardly from the outermost periphery or tread of the tire. In fact, in order to snap this rear marginal portion of the cover over the tread of the tire it is necessary thateither the rim or peripheral portion of the cover be split or formed open so as to yield or that the cover be provided with some other yieldable characteristic whereby the inner-marginalportion thereof may be expanded over the tread and thereafter contracted into cover retaining position.

As a result of my experimentation the cover disclosed in the present application was devised in whichcover I am the first to the best of my knowledge to ever provide means permitting the relatively stiff end portion of the split cover to bespread apart to an extent suflicient to enable the inner marginal portion of the cover to be moved over the tread of the tire and thereafter contracted into cover retaining r cooperation therewith. The means provided is; so arranged and constituted as to permit of a considerable latitude of movement of the ends of the co ver apart without requiring the use of a material with a higher degree of flexibility than that present in sheettmetalr I In accordance withthe general features of my a invention there is provided a metallictire cover comprising integral side and peripheral portions arranged so that the side portion is adaptedto cover/ the outer side wall of thetireand the J peripheral portion is ad'apted to extend over the tread of .the tire, these integral portions being splitat one, end or in other wordsprovided with an open bottom and the side portionhaving a sl t su st i amet ally, 9129 t e en incurred inthe mounting of the cover on the tire a fender well of an automobile;

clustrating the construction and position of the to a tire;

bottom of the cover adapted to permit a spreading of the ends of the cover portions away from each other so that the rear marginal flange of the peripheral portion may be moved over the tread of the tire and thereafter allowed to con- 5 tract and embrace the tire at the rear side of the tread for retaining the cover against accidental displacement from the tire. V

Another feature of the invention relates to the use of an ornamental plate for covering the slot oropening in the side portion of the cover and adapted to have ornamental matter formed. thereon to enhance'the appearance of the cover. Still a further feature of the invention relates to the provision of a cover of the above described specific construction with the exception'that instead of a slot there is provided in the side portionof the'cover a plurality of corrugations-to take theplace of the slot for permitting separation of the ends of the cover as the cover is being shoved onto the tire into proper tire protecting position. V v i e Other objects and features of this invention will more fullyappear from the following detailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings which illustrate several embodimentsthereof and in which A, v s Figure 1 is a side view of my novel tire cover illustrating it as being applied to a spare tire 30 Figure 2 is a view of the cover similar to Figure 1 with the exception that the plate over the slot in the side of the cover is broken away to show the slot and one end section of the unitary cover is illustrated as being spread away from the other end section to illustrate how the cover may be mounted onthe tire; v Figure 3 is an enlarged cross sectional view taken on substantially the :lineIIIIII' of Figurel; i 40 Figure 4 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view taken on the line IV--IV of Figure 3 looking in the direction indicated by the arrows and ilslot in the side wall of thecover; i

Figure 5 is a side view of amodified form of cover showing corrugations substituted for the slot and illustrating the cover as being applied Figure 6 is afr'agmentary view taken on substantially' the line V IV I of Figure 5 looking upwardlyillustrating the arrangement of the corrugations, and v e r Figure 7 is anenlarged cross sectional view taken on the line VII-VII of Figure 5 looking in the direction indicated by the arrows.

The form of cover illustrated in Figures 1 to 4 inclusive comprises a side portion ID for covering a side Wall of the tire and a peripheral portion I I extending transversely from the side portion in and adapted to cover the outer periphery or tread of the tire I2. Both of these portions are'made of a concavo-convex'shape so as to conformwith the contour of the respective parts of the tire I2 over which these portions are adapted to extend. Further these portions are integral and are made from relatively stiff sheet material such-for example as sheet metal. This unitary construction may be punched, spun or otherwise fabricated from the sheet material.

In Figure 3 it will be noted that the curved tread covering peripheral portion l' l hasitsinner margin formed to extend inwardly of-the tread spaced apart as shown in Figure l-so' that in other Words the unitary cover in reality is provided with an open bottom.

Now it will of course be appreciated that if this unitary cover structure is made of relatively stiff material such as'metal'sheet considerable difficulty will be experienced'in getting the cover into proper tire protecting position on the tiredue to the fact that the inner circumferential margin [3 of the portion 1 I must be spread in order to get it over the tread of the tire l2. This fact is true irrespective of the fact that the cover 1s made'in the form of a split ring and it will be appreciated therefore thatunless some'provision is made to enable the fitting of the inner margin of the portion l I over the tread of the tire the cover will be buckled and otherwise damaged in its application to the tire. a a In accordance with thefeatures of this inven-' tion I therefore provide'the' cover with an aperture or slot as indicated at I5which 'slot is disposed in the side portion 10 of the unitary cover and is preferably positioned diametrically'oppo site the slit in or the open bottom of the cover as best shown in Figures 1 and 2. I have attained best results by making the slot IS in the form illustrated namely in the shape of a wedge with the point of the wedge toward the outer periphery of the cover. 'Also in order to enhance the appearance of the unitary cover this slot l5 may be normally covered upby asmall-plate [6 to which any ornamental matter may be applied such for example as the initials of the owner of the automobile carrying the spare tire. and cover. The cover I 6 may be secured by means of'a pin Il disposed between the outer periphery of the cover and the point of the wedge-like slot 15..

In Figure 4 it will also be notedthatone end of the plate 16 spans the widest portion of the slot l5 and is bent inwardly as indicated at 18 so as to form a turned backportion into which are fitted the adjacentportions of the turned edge l4 alongside-the side walls of the slot 15. This turned back portion l8 of the plate. [6 serves to hold the separated sections of the turned edge M in proper alignment and against lateral displacement relative to each other. t

Now in applying this unitary split ringlike cover of my invention to the tire oneehalf of the cover is flexed laterally and cutwardly awayfrom the other half so as to permit said latter half to be fitted on the tire as shown in Figure 2. When this latter half is so' positioned on the tire the other half will be in substantially the full line position shown in Figure 2. Obviously this movement of the first mentioned half of the cover laterally and outwardly permits the inner marginal edge l3 of the other half to be properly disposed over the tread of the tire. Thereafter the aforementioned last half of the cover may be flexed onto the tire in such a way as to allow the inner marginal edge l3 thereof to be passed over the tread of the tire onto the rear side of the tread and then the resiliency of the material causes said half to assume the dotted line position shown in Figure 2.

From the foregoing description of the application of my cover to the tire it will be noted that .what I have in reality done is to provide a pivot half is free to contract on the tire whereby the cover is self-retained on the tire.

' This cover of my invention is self-retaining on the 'tire'to the extent that the inner marginal edge IS on the outer peripheral portion H serves to prevent accidental lateral displacement of the cover from the tire and hence the cover can only be removed by a separation of the ends of the halves going to make up the ring-like cover.

Once the cover is mounted on the tire and disposed in the fender well such as the fender well 20 illustrated in- Figure 1 the ends of the halves of the ring-like cover will be disposed in the well and if the'spare tire is locked against removal from the well the cover is necessarily also locked against removal from the tire. t

In Figures 5, 6, and 7-I have illustrated a modified form of cover in which instead of using a slot such as the slot'l5 of my preferred form of cover I have substituted therefor a plurality of corrugations 25. These corrugations are disposed in the side portion H! which is like in'the preferred form of cover formed integral with-a pe ripheral or tread covering portion ll. Both of these portions l0 and H are concave-convex in shape and the portion II has an inwardly extending turned marginal flange l3 at its rear side adapted for disposition belowtheouter periphery of the tire l2. 7 v -The two portions l0 and H are formed integral from sheet metal and together comprise a unitary split ring-like structure. The corrugations 25 are disposed diametrically opposite the open bottom or split end of the'ring and are graduated so that the larger corrugations are at the center of the corrugated section and the smaller corrugations'are at the'extreme ends of the corrugated section 25.

Since this corrugated section operates to per form substantially the same functions as the slotted section of'my preferred form of cover it is thought that no detailed description of the use of this specific form of cover is required in order-for its useto be fully understood. All that might'be noted in this regard is that this corrugateds'ec tion 25 provides a pivot point at which one half of :the' ring-like cover structure may be pivoted laterallywith respect to the-other half to'pennit of'the" ready mounting of the cover on'thethe;

Now I desire it understood that although I have illustrated and described in detail several embodiments of my invention the invention is not to be thus limited but only insofar as defined by the scope and spirit of the appended claims.

I claim as my invention:

1. A tire cover comprising a split ring including tire tread and side covering portions and in which a section thereof is pivotally movable with reference to the remainder of the cover to permit said cover to be applied to the tire, said pivotal movetially one-half of the ring and being formed to ment being provided by so forming a part of the side covering portion of said ring between its ends as to increase the flexibility of the cover at said intermediate portion, said split ring being formed to extend about substantially more than onehalf of the outer peripheryrof the tire and said section comprising substantially one-half of the ring, the tread covering portion of the split ring being circumferentially continuous and extending laterally over the tread, the ends of the ring pivoting about an intermediate section of the tread covering portion by reason of the formation of said side portion.

2. A tire cover comprising a split ring including tire tread and side covering portions and in which a section thereof is pivotally movable with reference to the remainder of the cover to permit said cover to beapplied to the tire, said pivotal movement being provided by a slot in the side covering portion of said ring between its ends as to increase the flexibility of the cover, said split ring being formed to extend about substantially more than one-half of the outer periphery of the tire and said section comprising substanhave its free ends yieldably hug the tire tread ing tire tread and side covering portions and in which a section thereof is pivotally movable with reference to the remainder of the cover to permit said cover to be applied to the tire, said pivotal movement being provided by a slot substantially only in the side covering portion of said ring between its ends as to increase the flexibility of the cover, said split ring being formed to extend about substantially more than one-half of the outer periphery of the tire and said section comprising substantially one-half of the ring, both said section and the other half of the ring being formed to have their free ends yieldably hug the tire tread below the upper half of the tire, the tread covering portion of the split ring being circumferentially continuous and extending laterally over the tread, the ends of the ring pivoting about an intermediate section of the tread covering portion by reason of the slot in said side portion.

4. A tire cover comprising a split ring in which a section thereof is pivotally movable with reference to the remainder of the cover to permit said cover to be applied to the tire, said pivotal movement being provided by so forming a portion of said ring between its ends as to increase the flexibility of the material at said intermediate portion, and said intermediate section being composed of a plurality of corrugations.

GEORGE ALBERT LYON. 

